Ok! This is a SakumoXOC series of 20 shorts - the OC is Urushima Eiko - the same OC for Sakumo's wife and Kakashi's mother as in my other fanfic "Storm Cloud" and a number of the shorts are related to that fanfic (and for you readers of it, there's a tiny, weeny, almost-spoiler!) (although you don't necessarily need to read it to understand, but if you want more info / more development e.g. for number 10, 19 and 20 then go read "Storm Cloud"!)
Not all of the shorts are related / on the same time-line, but most of them are roughly so (it will probably be obvious which of those connected or not) although there's no glaring and direct contradiction that I can see. Alright, A/n's aside, I hope you enjoy this! There are too few Sakumo fics around here! ^-^
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Picture Scroll
01. First Night
Sakumo pitched forward and only just caught the worst of his weight on his elbows before he crushed his partner beneath him, he buried his face into the crook of her neck, savouring his float down from climax, her soft skin pressed against his and the feel of her hands gently rubbing over his back. He relished too, the feel of her chest pushed into his with each of her panting breaths,
"Am I too heavy for you?" He murmured between the little kisses he busied himself with pressing to her neck,
"No, it's kind of comforting,"
"Was I too rough?"
"Kami, no," Her breathless, approving words sent a small thrill through him, "You've always been so gentle with me," He tangled his left hand into her hair,
"You're very precious to me, Eiko, even as my enemy, I couldn't quite bring myself to lift a hand against you," He could hear her slight breath of laughter,
"I have to agree, I definitely like you better as my ally," They lapsed into momentary, but comfortable silence.
"Do you love me, Eiko-chan?" She turned her head so that her nose brushed against his, her smile still evident.
"Of course I do, Sakumo-kun," He returned her grin,
"You've no idea how happy it makes me to finally know you are my wife...Now its justified for me to describe you as mine," He planted a swift but fairly chaste kiss on her lips before returning to nuzzle her neck,
"I have been for a long time, Sakumo-kun," He squeezed her tight momentarily, in silent agreement.
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02. Bamboo
His silver hair waved in the light wind as he watched the bamboo deer-scare ornament; it's rhythmic and unending clunk…clunk…clunk… were soothing his frayed nerves as he waited in the Nara compound for Shikayo to hurry the hell up; he'd have already knocked on his door or gone looking for him and the boys by now, if he didn't fear so much that his façade might crack if he stopped concentrating on the sound of the water-feature.
"Did you understand, Kakashi-kun?"
"Hai,"
"Otou-san, can we go into the clan forest for training next time?" The youngest Nara, although a good few years older than Kakashi, asked his father,
"Hmm…I don't know yet, Shikaku, we'll see…Sakumo-sama," He tipped his head politely in greeting as the Hatake finally turned his attention to the trio,
"Otou-san?" Kakashi appeared by his leg, looking curiously up at him, as Sakumo laid a large hand on his young, too young son's head;
"Thank you for keeping an eye on Kakashi, Shikayo-san, I greatly appreciate it,"
"It was no problem at all, Sakumo-sama," The near-sanin smiled gratefully before he turned and crouched down to his son,
"Come, Kakashi, we need to go and say good bye to Okaa-san,"
"Why? Where's she going?"
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03. Gamblers
Tsunade remembers clearly the day she placed a bet on Sakumo and Eiko – that they'd get married before the year was out; it was one of the few bets she'd won that year and the lack of an immediate reprisal meant Tsunade, naturally, assumed that that her bad luck was finally over. But now she thinks back on it, perhaps the fact that the couple barely managed five years together before Eiko's death – which meant the beginning of the end for one of the most skilled shinobi the village had ever seen – was the penance.
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04. Sleep
It amazed Sakumo at how peacefully Eiko always slept. She never fidgeted, talked, twitched or snored – but just lay there slowly breathing in and out; he was often a restless man, but it never seemed quite so bad when he watched her sleep. The peacefulness she brought with her never failed to wash out his own anxieties.
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05. Symbol
"Happy birthday, Eiko-chan!" He grinned broadly as he handed her a present,
"What's this?"
"It's not that badly wrapped, is it? It's a present," She raised an eyebrow and lowered the kunai she'd been holding, ready to throw, just as he'd interrupted her training,
"Sakumo…"
"Please? I know it's a little late, I apologise for that…" She sighed lightly, and pocketed her kunai, as she eyed the "present",
"You didn't have to, you know; I told you, it was enough that you made it back in time for the night out," He remembered what she'd told him – and he had pushed himself hard to make it back in time – and he was grateful that he did. As he'd arrived, that damn letch of an Akimichi had been stood a little too close to her and was apparently suffering from wandering hands and chronic obliviousness to Eiko's disgusted expression and attempts to push him away.
It had taken all of Sakumo's diplomatic skills to subtly slip in and move his current interest and close friend well out of harm's way, and to get the message across to the drunken fatass, that Eiko was not interested and that no one, no one, except himself, was allowed to stand anywhere near that close to her…or to touch her, in even the friendliest of ways. Hence his current gift, which she finally accepted with a small, but lovely, smile.
She cautiously opened the package and pulled out an effeminate, but tasteful jinbei top – there'd been a number of them for him to choose from, but this would suit her best, he thought – it was fairly modest and not too bright or eye catching in any of the colours – perfect for a kuniochi. It had occurred to him that he needed to be just a little clearer in his intentions with the kuniochi – at least in regard to the other men in the village; more and more often it seemed, that he caught them showing more than friendly interest in her and it was high time to put a stop to it. It didn't matter that he hadn't made any sort of declaration to her, he would do in due time (she hated rushing things…that and apparently she had incredibly selective vision, when she chose to).
He hoped that selectiveness would extend to her missing the Hatake family symbol somewhat discreetly embroidered on the back of the collar. That would be challenging to explain to her quietly independent nature.
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06. Memories
Eiko's first memory of Sakumo was…an undecided one. He'd looked at her strangely when they'd been introduced by her father – who often teamed with Hatake Fuyu for missions (and had recently decided to finally bring his wife and daughter from Rock, as he would be staying in Konoha permanently). The youngest Hatake just looked at her oddly, as though he wasn't even sure whether he liked her, hated her or didn't care; she felt somewhere between a museum piece, a strange animal and not even there at all from the expression he pulled…he was a really weird boy. That opinion of him never really changed either – even after growing up with, falling in love with and then marrying him, there were days she was convinced that he actually was still, that really weird boy.
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07. Rain
Eiko's first clear sign that Sakumo really felt something for her beyond friendship was when she was heading over to his one night for dinner, something they often did whenever they were both in the village. Just as she'd gotten to the end of her street, the heavens opened and the most torrential downpour she had ever born witness to, ensued. By the time she reached his apartment, "drowned rat" didn't quite cut it, her clothes sodden and stuck to her like cling-film, her hair was plastered to the side of her face and the water ran as a torrent off her chin and nose. He opened the door and his previously tranquil expression snapped into one of shock – in the split second it was there, she had clearly seen the arousal in his eye, but she wasn't sure what to do about it and so pretended she didn't see it.
"Shit! Eiko, come in, quick," He stood aside as she splodged through the door; he darted away to bring her back a towel before he rubbed gently at her hair and face to get rid of the worse of the moisture, "You could have waited until the rain was over, you know, I wouldn't have minded,"
"I know, but I was already half-way here when it started,"
"Aah," He'd then let her take a shower whilst he found some spare clothes for her, handing her a cup of hot green tea as soon as she'd reappeared out of the bathroom – looking considerably drier and much more like herself, even in his baggy clothes; he was stood, leaning on the kitchen counter with his arms crossed. There was some warmth in his eye and a light smile on his face that was something more than arousal – something more like belonging, and it had, for the first time ever around the man, her heart tripping over its own rhythm.
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08. Silk
The first time Sakumo realised that Eiko owned any silk underwear, was by pure accident – they were first time teammates – during that mission they'd gotten to know each other and he'd found her to be so unlike any other woman he knew at the time, that he couldn't help but like her – in a nice, platonic way, then; so when she'd been injured on her next mission and needed him to bring her a spare set of clothes to the hospital, he didn't need to be asked twice.
He'd gathered everything else she'd need and was half way out of the door when the thought of underwear occurred to him; that being his first time rifling through a woman's underwear draw, he was amazed at how…normal it looked. That his crazy, pubescent fantasies had imagined everything risqué and goddess-like, but the reality was that she seemed so normal, so human…
…With the exception of one pair of sinful, lacy, silken panties which had him waking up more times to a stick mess than he liked to admit to even himself…though thoughts of the kuniochiherself were far more chaste (for the most past) but remained far, far longer in his mind than the article of clothing did.
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09. Shooting Star
Eiko's father had finally passed away late that afternoon – it had taken him months of suffering with a disease even Tsunade couldn't quite figure out, before his strength had finally left him and he closed his eyes for the last time. Really, Eiko was glad. She felt a sense of relief that he'd finally gone. But she'd stupidly said this to her best friend – Nara Kiko – who'd merely looked disgustedly at her and before wondering how she could possibly had missed the fact that her best friend was such a sicko and an ungrateful bitch that she might wish her father dead. But Kiko didn't get it – Kiko had lost her father too, but in battle, she had lost him swiftly and he was very far away when it had happened. Kiko had heard her father die.
Eiko had been forced to watch her father die. Very, very slowly.
Kiko couldn't image what it was like to watch a man you respected with every ounce of your being slowly wither and become some pathetic shell of a former father…to become a once exceptionally powerful man, in both manner and skill, to be reduced to needing assistance to even go to the toilet. Yes, Eiko was so glad he was final free of his fallible body, free of the indignity he suffered, free of the loss of respect for him being replaced, instead, with hollow sympathy of those who were obligated to care. (She was so glad she didn't have to watch him wither any longer.) But apparently, her desire for his freedom was a greater crime than any enemy nin could commit, who might have previously tortured and killed him for information he didn't possess.
She didn't want any company – hence she was in the most secluded spot she could possibly find – but Sakumo managed to locate her anyway; he took a seat beside her and turned his head to stare at her until she glared right back,
"What?" He merely made an obvious display of looked up to the cloudless, dark sky above; Eiko followed suit and was momentarily mesmerized by the incredible meteor shower above them,
"…He's glad he's free of the suffering, too, Eiko-chan,"
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10. Sword
Sakumo had had two exceptional women in his life.
And both of these women had given him a tantō.
The first, was his mother – an exceptional woman and kuniochi by the name of Ashaya Umika – who'd sat him down, one day, upon his return from his first unofficial A-rank mission (at the tender age of 10½) and told him all about the special tantō she'd had made – which reacted to the unique chakra that only she and her son possessed. She'd told him all about the unique and specially adaptive "white" chakra that they both had…but her husband and his father didn't possess – since it had been artificially implanted into her (at, coincidentally, about the time, he himself had been conceived – that snippet of information, Sakumo had shuddered slightly at).
He'd protested, wondering why Konoha would ever do such a thing, when she'd told him the family history – of how both she and Fuyu originally lived in Uzushiogakure – the Village Hidden in the Whirling Tides – home to the Uzumaki clan, and they both had daringly escaped from under the oppression they both faced in the village. Sakumo had listened, enraptured, at the tale and had, every day since, held the blade with the utmost reverence – this, this was true testament to his family's strength.
The second woman to ever give him a tantō was Eiko – his then acquaintance, soon-to-be closest friend and eventual wife and mother of his only child. She gave it to him as a birthday present – one of the first he'd celebrated with her as a part of his life; she'd offered it to him nervously, and he'd accepted it easily, the complete opposite of nervous. For the fact that it was a strangely impersonal gift to give someone (bar the fact it was specially weighted to him) it turned out to be the only one he'd truly cherished then – by means of it being something he often used and for the fact it brought up thoughts of that kuniochi whenever he looked at it.
Even when he was fitting the tip of that same blade to his bare stomach – his final thoughts were of his beloved, deceased wife and how he regretted that he'd failed her cherished son and village... He couldn't bear to taint the Hatake name so much to use the chakra tantō – if that one could remain unblemished, maybe there'd be hope for his beloved son, despite his own actions.
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11. Story
"What are you doing, Eiko?" Sakumo asked, as he appeared on the outside porch of their house, sweaty and a little grimy from the mission he'd literally just returned from; she whipped her head around at the sound of his voice. She leapt to her feet, as quickly as she could and flung her arms around his neck,
"You're back! I was so worried…" He looped his arms carefully around her, holding her as close as he dared; kissing the top of her head before answering,
"Seriously, Eiko-chan, you don't think I'd leave you behind to raise our child by yourself, did you?" He grinned as he let her go and dropped a hand onto the sizable bump at her midriff – and current child keeping her off active duty;
"…You were still late home," Se grumbled with a slight, playful, pout, drawing an irresistible smile from him,
"I'm sorry…what were you doing anyway?" She looked over her shoulder at the large scroll unrolled and many small paint-tins dotted around, as well as a few scraps of paper and little glasses of murky water.
"Oh, I was drawing an emakimono – a picture scroll for this one, here," She made a vague gesture to the child inside her, "And since I've been bored as hell over the past few days, I thought I should be doing something for the little one when it arrives," Sakumo couldn't keep the grin off his face,
"He's waiting for his father to be there…what story are you drawing?"
"The Hanasaka Jiisan [old man who made the flowers bloom]…but what makes you so sure we'll have a boy?" Sakumo grinned,
"Just a feeling…besides, that story was designed to teach young men how not to act, wasn't it?" He couldn't quite fight down the chuckle at her huff of irritation.
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12. Rice
If there was one thing Sakumo was incapable of doing, it was cooking. There wasn't much Eiko could do about it, but laugh; really, she couldn't so much as allow him to watch over rice as it cooked, gently, by itself. She learnt that lesson very quickly after she'd asked him to add the rice when the water was boiling and watch it for a few moments, as it cooked; he was serving the dinner out as she'd returned – it looked disturbingly off colour, but it tasted worse than she could have imagined. It was rice…rice, how bad could it taste?
After that, she didn't mind cooking for them both.
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13. Iris
On their first date, he'd brought an Iris with him – she always did like things out of the ordinary (but in a subtle, thoughtful way) – he liked to think that it gave the extra few kudos points which convinced her to take him seriously about his intentions.
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14. Bark
The first time he introduced Eiko to his pack of nin-dogs, the leader, Uhei, had stood in front of her and made an obvious show of looking her up and down; Eiko had stood up to him – if a little under-confident (she was not a fan of dogs), which, admittedly Uhei and the others could easily smell. He thought everything was going well until Uhei suddenly barked, very loudly and randomly, enough to make Sakumo tense in fear of her safety (they weren't pets after all). But what was more shocking was the fact that Eiko barked right back – loudly enough to even make the dogs flinch!
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15. Waterfall
The only time she'd truly seen Sakumo angry – and really angry – was when she was drifting in and out of consciousness, slung upside down (over the enemy nin's shoulder, she'd later been told) when all she was aware of was parts of a conversation – the only words she'd been able to understand were "…mine...bitch…rape…" she'd been too heavily drugged to make out any more, expect an anger on Sakumo's face with frightened her more than she thought possible…
But later, as she recovered from the initial effects of the drug, and awoken – thankfully none-the-worse-for-wear – to Sakumo's gentle, but worried expression; she realised how lucky she was to be ally of Konoha, and therefore the supremely powerful and – she now realised, occasionally terrifying – White Fang…instead of Hidden Waterfall and whatever poor bastard had thought it a good idea to piss off, said legend.
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16. Time
It a matter of pride for Sakumo. He was never late to anything – not ever; much of the time it was a feat, really, for sometimes he'd turn up in the worst sates she could imagine and smelling like hell for pushing himself so hard, but in its own – slightly bizarre – way, it was kind of flattering that he cared so much to meet the sometimes, damn near impossible deadlines she set.
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17. Embarrassment
His father could be a strangely giddy and free-spirited man when he felt like it. Embarrassingly free-spirited. Sakumo liked to respect his father for it, that he was a man who didn't care what others thought of him, who didn't need some stranger to give him a nod of approval…but there were days. Oh, there were days, where Sakumo was damn-near ashamed to be acknowledged as Hatake Fuyu's son. The day he ended up introducing Eiko to him (by a misfit of circumstance, mind you) as the old man had come looking for him about something or other and he'd found Sakumo and the kuniochi sat relaxing together in the training ground after a fairly intense sparring session – (this was about a month before they'd gotten together) and Fuyu came bundling out the bushes, looking, frankly, terrified.
Sakumo, who hadn't the faintest idea what he was supposed to do (or why the great, if not occasionally flamboyant man that was his father, and someone he hadn't seen for a long time, due to mission schedules and such, looked scared out of his pants) when the shinobi appeared in front of them both – damn Eiko for not concealing her grin well enough,
"Haa, haa, haa…if you see Okaa-san, Sakumo, you tell her you haven't seen me," He hurried, panting slightly,
"I haven't for about four months, why would it make a difference now?" He tried to play it casual and hope Eiko wouldn't notice his barely-there cringe; Fuyu opened his mouth but then noticed the kuniochi by his side,
"Oh! Hello there...Is this your..?" He bobbed his head politely to her, which she returned, before addressing the last of his sentence to his son, with a sly grin on his face,
"Uh, no! This my friend and occasional teammate, Urushima Eiko,"
"Ah, right, right…well, I'll give you one bit of advice, one day, she'll have you good and whipped, but remember – always make sure you can outrun her! And you might just be okay,"
"Fuyu-no-baka!" His mother's voice sounded from somewhere – terrifyingly close,
"Well, that's my cue to leave, good bye, it was nice to meet you Eiko – when his mother's done killing me, come over for dinner," His voice became disembodied as he vanished in a cloud of smoke and it took all Sakumo's self-control not to slap a hand over his face and will himself into nothingness. He was the White Fang of Konoha, a respected, praised, legendary and above all feared – but somehow, that always managed to right over the head of his father, and he always ended up getting treated a little like a civilian child.
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And he'd give Eiko another ten seconds to stop laughing her ass off at him, before he retaliated.
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18. Colour
He loved the fact that no matter how long he and Eiko had been together, he was still able to get her to blush a brilliant pink with a few, well-chosen words or touches.
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19. Path
Eiko had to wonder if he really was 'leading her up the garden path' after he blindfolded her and carried her off late one afternoon; she complained and resisted slightly, but he calmed her with a few promised words that she need only be patient for a little while longer. He set her down in front of him, with his chest pressed into her back as he whispered,
"Remember what you were saying about hating living in a tiny apartment on a noisy street?" She nodded before feeling the blindfold slip away; she blinked in the sunlight for a moment before staring at the building in front of her, "How about a house in the woods instead?" She was stunned into silence for a few moments as Sakumo grinned lightly and continued.
"I've been working on this for months…I always did love carpentry, but I was thinking that this should be spacious enough and quiet enough for you,"
"Y-you built this by yourself?"
"Hmm…well, not completely, there've been enough Genin graduates this year to rope them in to doing the hard work," She stepped forward, across the clearing and up the house, stepping up to the raised porch and slid open the heavy wooden fusuma as well as the second, paper and wooden one. She took an immediate right turn (the corridor running perpendicular to the front door) as she paused outside the living room, noticing that it was half-decorated with personal belongings,
"Is that your book case? And zabuton?"
"Yes," She turned to look at him in silent query, "Whilst the apartment was too small for one, I figured this house would be perfect for two…besides, you didn't really think I allow a beautiful woman like yourself live all alone in the woods, did you?" Her eyebrows twitched into a playfully irritated frown at his indirect implication of her skill as a ninja; but neither could she keep the grin off of her face,
"You…you're sure?" He chortled, lightly,
"I've been sure since I got planning permission from the Hokage over a year ago, Eiko-chan, where've you been?"
"Stuck on some side-path in a crappy little apartment,"
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20. Secret Box
He was still only an infant, but Eiko could sense the intelligence in him, he observed a lot – but maybe that was inevitable she thought so, she was his mother after all. She flicked her eyes over to him as he watched her pack the small metallic box full of her more secret documents and other things; she was due to head out on a mission in the morning and things had been getting riskier and riskier – she was sure that her last mission was fast approaching. She hid away the box, along with her diary in the secret compartment in her room,
"One day, Kakashi, have Sakumo give these to you – there're things you need to know, but they're also dangerous…you're growing up in a treacherous world and you'll be lucky to find even a single friend you can trust with your life, especially if the Uchiha have anything to say about it." She sighed and rose to her feet to kneel next to her infant,
"You be a good boy for your father while I'm gone…you're lucky I had time to pre-make your meals, Sakumo can't cook for shi-,"
"Hey! I've been getting better recently and let's not corrupt him too early with that kind of language," Said father put in an appearance beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder,
"…I'm not sure how long this mission will take, and my team mates are-"
"I know…just make sure you come back alive, Eiko-chan, they're still shinobi of Konoha, so there's not that much they can do. Besides, think of how you'll be making your firstborn suffer by making him eat my home cooked meals from scratch if you don't," She couldn't resist the breath of laughter that escaped her at her husband's words, glad at least, that he would be around to keep an eye on Kakashi whilst she was called away on her first mission after the birth.
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